Phylloscopus trochiloides

Phylloscopus trochiloides (*)

See: EukaryotaSuperregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Telluraves
Cladus: Australaves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Sylvioidea

Familia: Phylloscopidae
Genus: Phylloscopus
Species: Phylloscopus trochiloides
Subspecies: P. t. ludlowi – P. t. obscuratus – P. t. trochiloides – P. t. viridanus
Name

Phylloscopus trochiloides (Sundevall, 1837)
Synonymy

Acanthiza trochiloides (protonym)

References

Physiographiska Sällskapets Tidskrift [Lund] 1: 76.

Vernacular names
العربية: نقشارة مخضرة
башҡортса: Йәшел төйөт
български: Зеленикав певец
brezhoneg: Puig-Rusia
català: Mosquiter verdós
čeština: Budníček zelený
чӑвашла: Симĕс чие кайăкĕ
Cymraeg: Telor gwyrddlas
dansk: Lundsanger
Deutsch: Grünlaubsänger
English: Greenish Warbler
Esperanto: Verda filoskopo
español: Mosquitero verdoso
eesti: Nõlva-lehelind
فارسی: سسک بیدی سبز
suomi: Idänuunilintu
føroyskt: Skógljómari
français: Pouillot verdâtre
Gaeilge: Ceolaire scothghlas
magyar: Zöld füzike
հայերեն: Դեղնափոր գեղգեղիկ
italiano: Luí verdastro
日本語: ヤナギムシクイ
қазақша: Жасыл сарықас
lietuvių: Šiaurinė pečialinda
latviešu: Zaļais ķauķītis
മലയാളം: ഇളം‌പച്ച പൊടിക്കുരുവി
नेपाली: जीवल फिस्टो
Nederlands: Grauwe fitis
norsk nynorsk: Austsongar
norsk: Østsanger
polski: Wójcik
پنجابی: ہری پدی
română: Pitulice verzuie
русский: Зелёная пеночка
davvisámegiella: Nuortilastavizar
slovenčina: Kolibiarik sivozelený
svenska: Lundsångare
Türkçe: Yeşil çıvgın
українська: Вівчарик зелений
Tiếng Việt: Chích xanh lục
中文: 暗绿柳莺

The greenish warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides) is a widespread leaf warbler with a breeding range in northeastern Europe, and temperate to subtropical continental Asia. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters in India. It is not uncommon as a spring or early autumn vagrant in Western Europe and is annually seen in Great Britain. In Central Europe large numbers of vagrant birds are encountered in some years; some of these may stay to breed, as a handful of pairs does each year in Germany.[2]

Like all leaf warblers, it was formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, but now belongs to the new leaf-warbler family Phylloscopidae.[3] The genus name Phylloscopus is from Ancient Greek phullon, "leaf", and skopos, "seeker" (from skopeo, "to watch"). The specific trochiloides is from Ancient Greek trokhalos, "bowed", and -oides "resembling", from the similarity to the willow warbler, P. trochilus.[4] The English name of this species provides a perfect argument in favour of the capitalisation of species names (i.e. treating them as proper nouns), a convention which is generally applied in scientific literature. The decapitalised "greenish warbler" is equally descriptive of many bird species across multiple families, whereas a capitalised "Greenish Warbler" shows unambiguously that Phylloscopus trochiloides is under discussion.
Description and ecology

Greenish warbler P.trochiloides from Anamalai Hills, Southern Western Ghats, India

Western greenish warbler,
Phylloscopus trochiloides viridianus

This is a typical leaf warbler in appearance, grayish-green above and off-white below. The single wing bar found in the southern and western populations distinguishes them from most similar species (except Arctic warbler P. borealis). It is slightly smaller than that species and has a thinner bill, without a dark tip to the lower mandible. A latitude-based analysis of wintering birds indicated that more northerly P. trochiloides are smaller, i.e. this species does not seem to follow Bergmann's rule.[5]

Its song is a high jerky trill, in some populations containing a sequence of down- and more rarely up slurred notes.

It breeds in lowland deciduous or mixed forest; non-breeding birds in the warmer parts of its range may move to montane habitat in summer. Individuals from southeast of the Himalayas are for example quite often seen in Bhutan during the hot months, typically in humid Bhutan Fir (Abies densa) forest up to about 3,800 meters ASL or more, but they do not breed there and return again to the adjacent subtropical lowlands in winter.[6]

The nest is on the ground in low shrub. Like its relatives, this small passerine is insectivorous.
Subspecies and evolution
Presumed evolution around Himalayas.
Yellow: P. t. trochiloides
Orange: P. t. obscuratus
Red: P. t. plumbeitarsus
green: P. t. ludlowi
Blue: P. t. viridanus
P. t. nitidus of the Caucasus is not shown.

It has a number of subspecies, of which P. t . viridianus is the most familiar in Europe. As it seems, it is a ring species, with populations diverging east- and westwards of the Tibetan Plateau, later meeting on the northern side. Their relationships are therefore fairly confusing:[7]

Eastern group: greenish warblers
Phylloscopus trochiloides trochiloides: greenish warbler
Southern rim of the Himalaya eastwards from Nepal into W China.
Dusky greyish green above, often traces of second wing bar.
Phylloscopus trochiloides obscuratus: dull-green warbler
Intermediate between trochiloides and two-barred warbler.
Gansu and surroundings, China.
Phylloscopus trochiloides ludlowi
Western group: green warblers
Phylloscopus trochiloides viridanus: western greenish warbler
Breeds Western Siberia to north-east Europe; at east of range south to NW India.
Dull green above, with yellowish supercilium, throat, breast and faint wing bar.

The groups' origin lies probably in the Himalayan region, where trochiloides is found. This taxon is close to the parapatric obscuratus, and to plumbeitarsus which is geographically separated from obscuratus; they all can (and in the case of the former two do naturally) hybridize. P. t. plumbeitarsus is often split as distinct species, as it does not hybridize with viridianus in the narrow zone in the western Sayan Mountains where their ranges overlap.

But phylogenetically, the western taxa are even more distinct. However, there is some gene flow between trochiloides and viridianus also, with their hybrids being especially common in Baltistan; which are now considered as a distinct subspecies ludlowi. The green warbler P. nitidus, now considered as a distinct species, is a mountain isolate that diverged from ancestral viridianus.

Song structure differs mainly between greenish warbler and two-barred warbler, which was formerly considered conspecific. The former has a fairly uniform, long, and warbling song. Around the Himalayas, song structure is similar, but songs are generally shorter. Two-barred warbler, on the other hand, has a long song that can be clearly divided into a warbling part, followed by a series of up- and downslurred notes. The songs of obscuratus and ludlowi, are short, but contain the downslur elements too; in the latter, they uniquely appear at the start of the song.[8]
Footnotes

BirdLife International (2017). "Phylloscopus trochiloides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103845399A119302608. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T103845399A119302608.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
Snow et al. (1998), Töpfer (2007)
Alström et al. (2006)
Jobling (2010)
Katti & Price (2003)
Inskipp et al. (2000)
Snow et al. (1998), Alström (2006)

Irwin (2000)

References
Alström, Per (2006): "Species concepts and their application: insights from the genera Seicercus and Phylloscopus Archived 2014-03-02 at the Wayback Machine". Acta Zoologica Sinica 52(Supplement): 429–434.
Alström, Per; Ericson, Per G. P.; Olsson, Urban; Sundberg, Per (2006). "Phylogeny and classification of the avian superfamily Sylvioidea" (PDF). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 38 (2): 381–397. Bibcode:2006MolPE..38..381A. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.015. PMID 16054402. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim & Sherub (2000): The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan. Forktail 14: 147–162. PDF fulltext
Irwin, Darren E. (2000). "Song variation in an avian ring species" (PDF). Evolution. 54 (3): 998–1010. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2000)054[0998:SVIAAR]2.3.CO;2. PMID 10937272. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-20. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 305, 391. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Katti, Madhusudan; Price, Trevor D. (2003). "Latitudinal trends in body size among over-wintering leaf warblers (genus Phylloscopus)". Ecography. 26 (1): 69–79. Bibcode:2003Ecogr..26...69K. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0587.2003.03264.x. S2CID 54179968.
Snow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Doherty, Paul; Cramp, Stanley (1998). The complete birds of the western Palaearctic on CD-ROM. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-268579-1.
Töpfer, Till (2007). "Nachweise seltener Vogeltaxa (Aves) in Sachsen aus der ornithologischen Sammlung des Museums für Tierkunde Dresden" [Records of rare bird taxa (Aves) in Saxony from the ornithological collection of the Zoological Museum Dresden] (PDF). Faunistische Abhandlungen (in German). 26 (3): 63–101.